Miami biker ‘performing a wheelie’ crashes, leaves passenger to die, police say

Vito Cacciapaglia appears remotely in Miami-Dade bond court on Monday. (Miami-Dade Courts)

MIAMI — A 25-year-old man appeared in bond court from a hospital bed on Monday after Miami police said he killed his passenger after he “performed a wheelie” on his motorcycle and crashed, then ran away from the scene.

The crash happened at around 4:25 p.m. on Thursday in the 300 block of Northeast 54th Street, between Miami’s Little Haiti and Buena Vista neighborhoods, across from the apartment complex where the suspect, Vito Cacciapaglia, lives.

An arrest report states that as Cacciapaglia rode his Kawasaki bike “recklessly” and performed the wheelie, he “lost control of the motorcycle,” causing both him and his passenger to fall off as the bike spun out of control and into a BMW X5 going the other way.

Police said Cacciapaglia took off, so they issued a be-on-the-lookout notice and officers began looking for a man “wearing a white tank top and black shorts, who was barefoot and appeared to be injured on the right side of his body.”

Meanwhile, authorities said medics took his passenger to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center in critical condition. He or she died soon after, according to the report. The victim’s name, age and gender were not included in the report.

According to the report, police were able to trace the bike’s registration to Cacciapaglia’s apartment, where his roommate told officers that he had come back “with injuries to the right side of his body,” saying that Cacciapaglia “appeared to be in an altered state of mind” and told him he was going to JMH.

Authorities said they later spotted Cacciapaglia at JMH and took him to the Miami Police Department headquarters, where he declined to speak with officers. Medics then took him back to JMH for further treatment.

Cacciapaglia was still at JMH when he appeared remotely in Miami-Dade court on Monday, facing charges of leaving the scene of a crash involving death and reckless vehicular homicide.

Jail records indicate that he’s also facing a charge of providing a false name or identification after arrest.

Miami-Dade Judge Mindy Glazer gave Cacciapaglia a $100,000 bond and ordered him not to drive if he posts it. The Italian national will also have to surrender his passport.

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Chris Gothner

Chris Gothner

Chris Gothner joined the Local 10 News team in 2022 as a Digital Journalist.